Calling 'My Lord is wrong, says LHC judge

LAHORE - Justice Sh Azmat Saeed of Lahore High Court on Thursday issued notices to law officers of the federal and provincial governments for assistance on a petition against use of words My Lord for addressing judges during court proceedings. LHC senior most judge Sh Azmat Saeed agreeing to the petitioner counsels arguments observed it is correct that calling judges My Lord in courts is fundamentally wrong and should be done away with because it is a reflection of slavish mindset and goes against basic teachings of Islam as well. The petition was filed by Syed Faroze Shah Gillani through Advocate A K Dogar. He submitted that use of the words My Lord was an element of slavish mentality being gift of British Raj and was against teaching of Islam. He prayed that it should be stopped and replaced with better words like Sir, Jinab-eWala or Janab-e-Aali. He said we gained freedom in 1947 and now the mindset of slavery should also stop without further delay. He prayed the court to restrain the use of word 'My Lord by passing directions for implementation of Presidential Order No 15 of 1980 in letter and spirit and also uphold the Islamic teaching, which do not allow a man to be addressed like My Lord.